Married couple in running for Wake’s top-teacher award

Brian and Emily Quigley, pictured here in the Outer Banks last summer, are both semifinalists for Wake County’s Teacher of the Year award. They married in 2010.
COURTESY OF EMILY QUIGLEY

Every morning, Emily and Brian Quigley leave their Raleigh home and head to their teaching jobs on different sides of Wake County. When they get home each evening, sometimes after working second jobs, they talk a lot about school.

The Quigleys, who got married in 2010, are both among the 26 semi-finalists for Wake’s teacher of the year award.

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It’s unclear if a married couple has ever been nominated for the award the same year. Stella Shelton, a spokeswoman for Wake schools, said she can’t recall such a situation in her 20 years with the school system.

Last year’s teacher of the year winner, Luke Miles, teaches at Durant Road Middle School in Raleigh with his wife, Caroline.

Emily and Brian Quigley, both 28, said being married to a fellow teacher has some perks. They know all about the ups and downs of working in a classroom.

“We can relate to each other,” Brian said. “You know the right thing to say.”

But the Quigleys have also had to face financial realities of a career in education.

They moved to Wake County in 2008 after graduating with bachelor’s degrees from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. They said they both earn the salaries of first-year teachers, never having gotten a raise.

In Wake, a new teacher earns about $35,000 a year.

“You don’t expect that when you come down and buy a house and expect to start a family,” Brian said.

Both have taken on second jobs. Emily works the after-school program at Holly Springs Elementary, and Brian coaches football and track at Apex Middle School.

“I think that if something doesn’t change in the next couple years, one of us at least will have to leave the profession,” Emily said.

Changes might be on the way. Gov. Pat McCrory announced plans in February to raise the base pay for early-career teachers.